Health services in Paktia return to normal: Officials

GARDIZ (Pajhwok): Public health officials in southeastern Paktia province say they have reformed the health sector in the province during the past three months and all health services have returned to normal.

When the new administration came into power three months ago, doctors and staff of Paktia’s healthcare centers complained about their unpaid salaries and the centers ran out of needed resources.

However, local officials say they have mostly responded to the mentioned problems and efforts were on for providing better equipment of healthcare centers.

SadruddinAzzam, Paktia public health director, told Pajhwok Afghan News that some organizations recently provided medicine and other resources to the Paktia Zonal Hospital and other healthcare centers.

He said they also signed a contract with UNICEF based on which the organization would pay salaries of health personnel for up to three months.

Azzam added that efforts have also been made to address the remaining problems and restore all health services in the provincial capital and districts to normal.

“In the beginning, the situation was a bit abnormal, health workers were worried about their salaries and the supply of health facilities, but now the situation has improved,” Dr. Syed Ibrahim, a doctor at Paktia Zonal Hospital, said.

He said health workers have returned to their duties and were at the service of patients as normal. The salaries issue of the health personnel has also resolved to some extent, he said.

Residents of Paktia province say that health services at healthcare centers have improved compared to three months ago, but shortage of medicine still persisted to some level.

A resident of the province, who wished to go unnamed, said, “Three months ago, there were a lot of anarchism in the health centers. Doctors would not attend their job, there was no medicine and people used to refer to private hospitals.”

He said that services at health centers have improved as doctors were attending their jobs and medical resources were available for patients.

There are about 60 small and large health centers in Paktia where people from neighboring Paktika and Logar provinces also arrive for treatment.

Mds/ma

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